


and i know it seems hopeless

by Rahmi



Category: Ben 10 Series, Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Amputation, Gen, Harm to Children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-11-30
Updated: 2010-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-05 01:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rahmi/pseuds/Rahmi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this brave new world, Dexter lets people come to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fusion Fall/Ben 10 Alien Force fusion. I like the idea of it but I will be the first one to say that I know fuck all about the actual game itself.

Dexter does not go out. He lets people come to him. This is the way he meets Ben Tennyson again.  
  
He remembers Ben as being obnoxious and stupid, not quiet and watchful. He is missing an arm; the jacket he wears has a long sleeve that Ben tucks into the waist of his pants.  
  
"I do not remember that," Dexter says because nobody has ever accused him of having tact and he's not about to start now. He has a war to run and a planet to save. He doesn't have time to give people's delicate feelings consideration.  
  
Ben snorts. "Which part of it?" he asks.  
  
"You're being obtuse," Dexter says. He nods to the empty sleeve and raises an eye behind his goggles. "The arm. When did you lose that?"  
  
His companions are a red haired girl and a dark haired boy that hover inconspicuously at his back. Dexter eyes them and realizes he recognizes their faces. Their Fusions have been seen in Bellwood for the last few weeks.  
  
Ben is wan and pale under Dexter's lights. He did not used to be. He used to have two arms and a cocky smile. The Omnitrix is still on his wrist, but it is on the right now. Dexter's brain whirls for only a moment before he understands what must have taken place.  
  
"Your companion's Fusions?" he asks. He is a genius. These things come naturally to him. He watches the way Ben flinches whenever he catches a glimpse of his friends and thinks that he knows exactly how this happened.  
  
"Yeah," Ben sighs. "It's not their fault," he says, but he sounds like he's trying to convince himself and his companions at the same time. He massages at the remains of his arm with his hand, a look of pain skittering across his face.  
  
Dexter considers how that missing arm has impacted Ben's abilities and then considers all the ways he can make this better. Not fix it. Nobody can fix anything since Fusion's fall, but he can make this right. "Give me three days," he decides and turns away from them all.  
  
"Three days for _what_?" the dark haired guy demands.  
  
Dexter waves a hand behind him, already mentally calculating, and snaps, "Computress, take Ben's measurements. I will be needing them."  
  
"Dexter," Ben says, waving his arm behind Dexter's head; Dexter can see it reflected in the monitor. "What do you need my measurements for?"  
  
"You have flying aliens, do you not?" Dexter asks.  
  
The girl behind Ben makes this kind of hurt, useless noise in the back of her throat. Dexter ignores her and meets the reflection of Ben's eyes. "Three," Ben says quietly. "Two of them are useless now, though."  
  
Pain sparks on his face again, clear enough through the reflection Dexter is watching, but this time it doesn't seem to go away. Ben's entire body hunches and Dexter is flipping around in concern when the dark haired boy moves.  
  
Ben jumps when the boy puts a hand on his shoulder and hauls him back against his chest, but he also relaxes into it a moment later. The girl throws something pink up around all of them (Dexter nudges Computress to analyze it with a finger stroke) and they all melt into each other. The girl's hands are small and covered in that same pink as she firmly begins to manipulate the wrecked remains of Ben's arm through his jacket.  
  
"It's okay," she murmurs softly, "Trust us, it'll be okay."  
  
Ben makes a hurt noise under his breath, but Dexter can tell the spasm is already easing.  
  
Good.  
  
Numbers fly across his screen, Ben's current weight and his ideal weight, his current height and his projected height at adulthood. He makes a mental note to talk to the cafeteria about putting Ben on increased rations; he is fifteen pounds underweight and only a few of those pounds can be contributed to the loss of the bone and muscle that made up his left arm.  
  
It will have to be strong, Dexter thinks, and it will have to be lightweight. A true problem, not like making weapons for the armies of children they've had to recruit to fight in the adult's place.  
  
"You said three," Dexter says, watching the data instead of the reflection of the three people at his back.  
  
The dark haired guy is the only one who stirs. He lifts his head from its defensive position over Ben's and squints. "Only one of 'em still flies," he says. "The necro's the only one who has wings."  
  
He still has Ben curled up against his chest, the girl at Ben's back, shielding him between the two of them. Ben is slumping so much that Dexter's sure he's actually falling asleep at this point. It's cute. Dexter almost wishes he had something like that.   
  
"Jetray and Terraspin are too unbalanced." The pink glow around the girl's hands fades as she lets them drop around Ben's waist to deliver a hug instead.  
  
"I can help with that," Dexter says.

* * *

  
It takes more than three days. Dexter has the prototype done after a day of no sleep, but the girl (Gwen he reminds himself) stomps into his laboratory and says, "He's not trying that on yet," with her face pinched and her hands glowing pink.  
  
Computress calls the stuff mana.  
  
Dexter wheels around in his chair. "Why not?" he asks, genuinely curious. They need all the fighters they can get out there.  
  
"He lost that arm _four weeks ago_ ," Gwen hisses. "He just got the last of the rigid dressings off yesterday. He's got post traumatic stress disorder from having his arm ripped off by something with _my face_ while something with Kevin's just stood there and watched.  
  
"He's battling feelings of betrayal because of those _damn things_ , he's alternately clingy and hateful, and the last thing he needs is for someone to _let him go fight Fusion monsters_ right now."  
  
"What does he need, Gwendolyn?"  
  
Gwen's eyes take up the same glow as her hands. "He needs rest," she says. "He needs time to be Ben instead of a hero. He's going to get himself killed if he doesn't have time to adjust. If _we_ don't have time to adjust."  
  
The Fusion monsters are getting bolder. The troops are stretched so thin that Dexter knows there are holes in their defense grid; Numbah 3 had nearly gone down beneath an onslaught of them a few days ago. Nobody really has time to rest.  
  
He can tell Gwen all of those things. Dexter observes the stubborn tilt of her mouth and realizes that it's not going to do any good. "What will you do if I ignore what you say?" Dexter asks. "What if I go directly to Ben and ask him?"  
  
"We'll disappear," Gwen says gently. "Kevin, Ben, Julie, our parents, all of us. We'll just go. We have Ship and we have the Rustbucket. There are plenty of worlds out there that would jump at the chance to host us."  
  
He would not have pegged this girl as being someone to pull this card. She has honor and duty written all over her face. "You would just abandon the Earth?" he asks skeptically.  
  
"For Ben?" Gwen smiles. "In a heartbeat. I have Reinrassic III, seventh son of the noble Highbreed House of Derazza, direct descendant of the Pure Blooded High Order of Rarsect, Supreme Commander of the Highbreed on speed dial and I'm not afraid to use him. He probably won't be too happy to hear what's been going down here. He's really protective of Ben."  
  
The name means nothing to Dexter. He is concerned with Fusion, not random aliens.  
  
She pauses and the glow around her finally dies down. "Ben probably wouldn't forgive me, though," she says thoughtfully, "So I really would prefer it if you just left us alone for a few weeks. Tell Ben it's taking longer than you thought."  
  
"Lies?" Dexter says. "You want me to lie to your cousin."  
  
"I do."  
  
"Alright," says Dexter.  
  
Gwen nods her head and smiles. She's a very pretty girl, a very scary girl, and Dexter is already nodding when she opens her mouth to say, "Me and Kevin are off rotation for Fusion monsters until we clear Ben for fighting."  
  
It makes sense. They know him best, they are obviously a team. Someone needs to be there to make sure Ben gets to the physical therapy appointments Dexter has already taken the liberty of scheduling with MoJo JoJo and that he does not cause himself harm while trying to heal. He doesn’t know what hospital Ben was rushed to when the arm was first injured, but the doctor was knowledgeable and the stump _should_ heal well.  
  
Dexter needs three whole heroes more than he needs three heroes falling to pieces. "Take your time," he says. "But be prepared. A Fusion version of Ben has been sighted on the outskirts of town."  
  
Gwen's mouth thins. "I know," she says softly. "They used his arm to make it."  
  
"Just so you are aware," Dexter says. He would like to ask how they got the Omnitrix back after Fusion Gwen ripped off Ben's arm. He saves he question for someone less... volatile.

* * *

  
After the visit with Gwen, Dexter is expecting the other one. He is frankly surprised at how long it takes Kevin to make his way into DexCorp, but a genius is, above all, patient.  
  
It is something he has learned over the years.  
  
"Ben's getting antsy," Kevin says, leaning against the back of Dexter's chair.  
  
Dexter shrugs both shoulders and says, "Computress. Take aim at the annoying _nuisance_ touching my genius person."  
  
It is gratifying how quickly Kevin pulls away from him.  
  
"What is this about Ben?" Dexter asks.  
  
The new arm is coming along nicely. Dexter will not say anything to Gwen, but he is grateful for the extra few weeks this has given him. The first arm would have been a shoddy example of genius workmanship, he is willing to admit. This arm, this one shall be worthy of having DexCorp's name on the side.  
  
Inconspicuously of course.  
  
"He's moping," Kevin says. He crosses his arms and makes a big show of looking around Dexter's laboratory. "Well, sometimes he's curled up in a ball and sobbing like a sissy, but most of the time he's moping."  
  
He is obviously a former bully, Dexter thinks, and does not give him the satisfaction of paying attention. There are a million things in his lab that can take this nuisance down. "You do not sound concerned," he says, just because he can.  
  
Kevin is obviously as hopelessly overprotective of Ben as Gwen is. It is stupid to try and hide it the way he is.  
  
"Yeah, well," Kevin says, shrugging. "Someone's gonna be upset if I murder the pipsqueak."  
  
"You would be," Dexter murmurs. He pulls up schematics on the new arm and throws a monitor window towards Kevin to distract him while he goes searching for Ben's recent medical records.  
  
It's a gross misuse of his power and Dexter does not care in the slightest. Ben is a friend.  
  
"This is living metal," Kevin says after a few seconds.  
  
Dexter nods absently. "I received the idea while I watched you practice," he says. "Living metal will fuse to Ben and allow neuron control. I do not want to give him a prosthetic," he says derisively, "I want it to be useful. I want to give Ben full range of motion back."  
  
That nets Dexter a considering look.  
  
Ben's records are promising. Dexter pages through them while Kevin makes quiet comments to himself over the new schematics.  
  
"You should use taedenite," Kevin finally offers. "It's stronger than any metal you're gonna be able to find planetside. If your big brain can figure out a way to adapt it for this plan, I think you'd have a winner."  
  
Dexter has never heard of taedenite. He has a mix of titanium growing in the basement levels at the moment (the ability to _grow metal_ had taken the better part of two weeks), but if this taedenite could be better... "Do you have a specimen?" Dexter asks.  
  
"Small one. Enough to run some tests on, sure, but not enough to make an entire arm out of it. Stuff costs the equivalent of a gold credit cube," Kevin says thoughtfully, "And no way is a trader gonna come to earth, not with the risk of Fusion spreading. Someone'd have to go offworld to get it."  
  
Dexter grins. "Someone like you three," he says, "Which will be enough to make Ben stop moping."  
  
Kevin raises an eyebrow at him, crosses his arms, and smirks. "I like you," he declares.  
  
The feeling is not mutual; Dexter likes and respects Ben, but his friends are decidedly obnoxious. Stupid, even. Bah. They are, however, protective and supportive and all of those other words that end in -tive that Dexter has never been able to apply to his friends and family. "Bring me the taedenite sample," Dexter says. "I will need to do calculations to assure that it will work."  
  
"It's used as power core material for space travel," Kevin says.  
  
"That is different than using it to fashion something mobile," Dexter says patiently. "Go away."  
  
An incoming call pulls his attention away from the fascinating expression crossing Kevin's face. It's a distress call from Sector 12, of course; Blossom has probably burned down the very buildings she was defending. Again. Dexter does not know what he did in a previous life to deserve some of the things he has to put up with.  
  
Kevin lets himself out when Dexter starts up the video feed.  
  
The taedenite is delivered by the end of the day.


	2. and don't you know i'll never give you a medal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fusion Fall is my favorite Ben 10 AU to play in.

  
"Dex," Ben sighs.  
  
Dexter twitches. "What?" he snaps.  
  
An arm slings across his shoulders; the real one, not the one he made Ben two years ago when his was sliced off. Ben hasn't let it slow him down overly much and this is one of the reasons that Dexter lets him get away with murder.  
  
Numbuh 3 is still known to sob into her palms over her burnt hair even a year after the fact. Bubbles has a hair-trigger temper that routinely sets the rec room on fire and all of the Eds play pranks that end in tears and blood.  
  
Ben has come out of Fusion's fall with most of his sanity and all of his humanity intact.  
  
"Why are you touching me?" Dexter grumbles. He tries to shrug the arm off.  
  
Ben taps on his clavicle with his fingers; he's close enough that Dexter can feel him breathing against his hair. It's disconcerting. Dee-Dee is the only one who gets this close to him nowadays. "No reason," Ben says.  
  
"Then desist."  
  
The word "cranky" is sing-songed into his ear. Dexter ignores it. Dee-Dee is much better at being annoying that Ben ever is.  
  
His fingers twitch on his keyboard. The monitor stays resolutely dark. "Go away, Ben," Dexter says. "I'm busy and do not have time for your stupidity."  
  
"But Dex," Ben says, and then leans forward to whisper, "Omelete du fromage," into his ear.  
  
It startles a laugh out of him. His fingers pause on his keyboard. "I never should have told you that," he says, but he's still laughing, big, honking, unattractive laughter that he knows is already verging on hysteria.  
  
Mac is ten hours past due for his check in. He can't lose another one, he can't. These are his inventions standing between kids and the Fusion and this is Ben, whispering urgently into his ear, "Come on, Dex, breathe. I'll go look for him, okay? It'll be fine, we didn't lose him."  
  
His laugh goes high and mocking before he can stop it. "When was the last time you slept, Ben?" he asks through it, wheezing. "You smell like Fuse. How, exactly, are you going to go find one eight year old boy in a ruined city like this?"  
  
Ben's mouth is set in a hard line. "Watch me," he says. He hugs Dexter's head for a long moment, the only one allowed to do that, and then he fades to intangibility in a blaze of green light.  
  
Dexter does not watch him leave. It would do no good. Instead, he activates his Nanos across the city. The one on the roof catches Ben for a bare second as he flies away; Ben turns his head to wink at it before he fades from view.  
  
Intangibility. Dexter hates it. He wipes his face with one glove and pulls himself together. There are other people that depend on him. Ben can be stupid alone for all he cares.  
  
Still, he pulls another monitor around instead of re-using the one that's still searching for Ben.  
  
He needs to know if Ben finds Mac, is all. The Imaginary Creatures are hard to deal with when they lose one of their kids.  
  
Dexter's fingers twitch again. He resolutely ignores them. "Come in, Numbah 5," he says, tapping keys. "Ben is..." he trails off, unsure of how to say this.  
  
"He's beein' his usual self, huh?" Numbah 5 says. She snaps her gum obnoxiously and grins under the wide brim of her hat. "Am I on my own today? Want me ta grab Blossom?"  
  
Today isn't a good day for Blossom. There are new holes in the wall courtesy of her and Gwen's fight. Gwen’s out pounding the pavement, but as soon as Ben gets back, Dexter has a feeling neither she nor Kevin will be useful for anything.  
  
Please don’t let Ben come back injured, Dexter takes a moment to think. But if he is, Dexter better get his use out of Levin and Gwen now. "Take Levin," Dexter says.  
  
Numbah 5 tilts her head back enough that Dexter catches the glint of her eyes beneath all of that fabric. " _Levin?_ " she says skeptically. "You know he ain't into playin' well with anyone but the Tennysons."  
  
"Understatement," Dexter acknowledges. Levin gets into brawls with anyone and everyone that doesn't have green eyes, but he tolerates Numbah 5 when he has to. That's going to have to work for today.  
  
"Alright," Numbah 5 says, "You know Numbah 5 ain't got a problem puttin' stupid boys in their place. I'm on Sector 4 this week, right? I'll grab the idiot and get on that."  
  
"Follow Dee-Dee's directions," Dexter says.  
  
"Ah, come on, little man," Numbah 5 says, "Where's the fun in that?"  
  
Where's the fun in any of this? Dexter cuts the communication short before she can start arguing with him. Mac has been missing for ten hours and five minutes. Ben has been gone for six minutes. There isn't going to be anything to know.  
  
It doesn't stop him from obsessively flickering through incoming data from his Nanos, though.

* * *

  
The other reason Ben gets away with murder is this:  
  
Twenty-two hours after Mac disappears, Ben shows up with the child cradled in his arms. Ben smiles at him, grimly, and Dexter has just long enough to realize that the green splashed liberally on Ben is _blood_ and then Ben is slumping to the floor and Mac is screaming and reaching for Dexter with mindless panic in his eyes and no. No, this was not going to happen.  
  
MoJo JoJo is the closest thing they have to a doctor any more. Dexter doesn't have the strength to move Ben, he's not a super hero, so the simian comes to him instead of the other way around. It is inefficient and Dexter will change that in the future.  
  
If there is a future. If Ben is still alive.  
  
"Hold this," MoJo JoJo says, pressing body warm crystal into Dexter's arms.  
  
Ben's arm is not as heavy as it appears, though it is twice as strong as titanium. The stump it attaches to looks much better than the last time Dexter saw it and that is what he concentrates on.  
  
Blood is dripping down from MoJo JoJo's gloves, back into Ben. It is not sanitary. Dexter stands for a moment, hugging Ben's arm, before he turns on one heel and begins to plot all the ways he can fight the inevitable infection Ben will get.  
  
"I, MoJo JoJo, will not watch you die," the simian snarls down at Ben. "Because I am MoJo JoJo and and I will not let you die.” He points a bloody finger at the hapless adventurer who got roped into being a nurse and snaps, “Give me clamps, suture, and gauze."  
  
Dexter's cannot type with his hands in fists. He stares down at them, willing them to open; he does not have time for stupid emotions when Ben is dying. If MoJo JoJo can stop the bleeding, Dexter will need to make sure there is something to stop the infection.  
  
His Nanos are already small. He begins to code them to be smaller.

* * *

  
Three days from now, Ben will wake up in Dexter's bed. Mac will be curled up against his good side, watching the world with haunted dark eyes and he will not be the same, he will never be the same, but they are both alive.  
  
They are both alive.  
  
"You are a stupid child," Dexter sighs. "You have caused me a migraine."  
  
Ben has no voice; his lips are cracked from days spent on a respirator and the emergency tracheotomy MoJo JoJo had to perform when half of Ben's trachea spontaneously collapsed is going to be hell on his throat. Still, Dexter knows he is saying sorry by the way his chest expands and contracts.  
  
He does not look up from studying Ben's fingers. "I watched you," he says.  
  
Ben's fingers twitch open. Dexter thoughtfully places his own gloves hand into it. For once, he would not mind touching someone flesh to flesh, but now is not the time to introduce new germs into Ben's system.  
  
The new nanos are small and efficient, but even catatonic Mac is in a full body hazmat suit to protect Ben.  
  
"Do not do that again," Dexter says.  
  
Ben's fingers twist again under his own, curling weakly. Dexter places his helmet against the edge of Ben's bed and lets his forehead rest against the Plexiglas. "Yes, I know," he says, "But I am the genius here, Ben Tennyson, and I say to never do it again."  
  
The fingers deliberately slide away from his. Dexter thinks Ben is reaching for Mac, but he runs out of steam halfway there and his hand just drops onto his chest. "You saved him," Dexter says. "You nearly died."  
  
A short movement, like Ben wanted to shrug and thought better of it.  
  
Dexter does not say what they both know. In the long run, Mac does not mean much. He is a child, he cannot fight Fuse monsters. If Ben had fallen, it would have doomed the city.  
  
"Thank you," Dexter finally says.


End file.
